Former Argentinean president charged with money laundering

Buenos Aires, April 10 (IANS) Former Argentinean President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has been charged on suspicion of money laundering, a report in a local newspaper said on Saturday.

“Prosecutor Guillermo Marijuan announced today (Saturday) this measure against the former president,” Xinhua quoted Saturday’s daily newspaper, La Nacion as saying, after a previously incarcerated businessman, Leonardo Farina, made statements incriminating Kirchner and other former government figures in money laundering investigations.

These charges came just four days after Kirchner was interrogated by authorities about suspicious operations made by the country’s central bank in the final days of her presidency.

Alongside Kirchner, her former minister of federal planning, Julio De Vido, was also charged.

Farina, who has already been jailed for tax evasion, was interrogated for more than 10 hours by federal judge Sebastian Cassanello, according to Clarin, another daily newspaper.

“He provided information and named witnesses that could prove that Cristina and her deceased husband (former president Nestor Kirchner) had created a structure to remove illicit funds from the country or launder them through local funds,” added Clarin.